The spread of the disease would have been much worse without the vaccinations and masks and lockdowns and social distancing.
Perhaps 50 million or more would have died - instead of 6.9 million.
As it was - without all the denialisms and apathy and disinformation - if not present - then perhaps the number of dead might have been less than half. 3 million or less.
Disinformation nowadays is made very much worse by the internet.
The spread of COVID has been nearly universal, I think most people had it at least once, I had it twice. You can make an argument that if more people got sick quicker, the hospitals would be overcrowded and more people would die, at least that was what they said in Germany. But if you look between the lines, hospitals in Germany have been always near-capacity in many areas. The overcrowding didn't start with the COVID pandemic. I agree with you on one thing, people should be mindful whether to go to social gatherings when a virus is going around and try not to get others sick if they know they are.
@DiogenesDue Alright, then I welcome you to lay down your own timeline of events, do some retrospection. It doesn't have to go into details.
'The spread of Covid has been nearly universal'
FM doesn't seem to realize that it took a very long time to develop the vaccines.
With Covid-denialism and mask-denialism rampant of course the disease was going to spread.
There were no vaccines for it available for a Very long time.
It was like two years!
Of Course it was going to spread.
Water is wet also.
And many patients and doctors and nurses in those overcrowded hospitals in Italy and Spain and Germany Died from Covid !! That's right.
They've been working on it for 40 yrs so..... 
Missing Open Ideas?🤣🤣
Hi George.
Want to talk about that by PM? You've got my permission to PM me.
I don't want to break 'advertising rules' by mentioning the name of a club.
Plus - you've only been a member of chess.com for a week.
How would you know I quit that club? You can PM the answer.
But the short answer is No. I don't miss it.
He knows, because he's the resurrection of someone who was here for a while and then left. Who were you GeorgeRaft11? Why come creeping back in in such a ham handed fashion...announcing yourself without announcing yourself? More to the point, why the two laughing/crying emojis? You can do better.
Yes Dr.
I conjectured he's a 'returning account' but hadn't suggested it yet.
Could be an 'alt account' instead. Wanting to conceal his main account.
Two main possibilities who it is. 70% its either of them.
And his use of the smirking emojis is 'best' in his mind.
Anyway - got to keep it close enough to Covid as per the opening poster.